LOROS Internal Communications

Contents:

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the February 2020 edition of the Hospice Pin Board, which is the first edition of our new internal newsletter for all LOROS staff.
Following feedback from the Create 2020 survey relating to how information is communicated throughout the Hospice, the Hospice Pin Board has been designed to be a central point of information for all staff; it features essential LOROS information and updates as well as more personal news about our colleagues and friends.
This is the first issue so we would love to hear your feedback on what works well and what doesn’t. Also, most importantly, we need your news! If there is something happening that you want to shout about, if you need to update everyone or if something is changing within your team then let me know.
You can do this via email, over the phone or in person (details are at the bottom of the newsletter).
Happy reading, I hope you enjoy! Sophie

Good news

Becca’s getting married!

We are kicking off our first issue with some great news! PA to our Chief Exec, Becca Cort got engaged on Christmas Day to her fiancé Mark. Congratulations to you both!

Winter Raffle

Thank you to everyone who has bought raffle tickets to support last years’ winter raffle; this has raised over £76,000. The draw took place on Wednesday 18th December at De Montfort Hall with the cast of Aladdin.

Volunteer thank you Christmas parties

Just before Christmas our volunteers attended their annual thank you
Christmas party. At these parties 15 volunteers received their five year badge, 18 received their 10 year badge, four reached 20 years and five were awarded their 25 year badge. Next year will see two volunteers being presented with their 35 years’ service badge.

LOROS Ball

The LOROS Ball took place in November 2019 with an ‘Around the world in eighty days’ theme. £51,000 was raised from this event which is a record amount. Well done to Charlotte Graham and the events team.

Don't like your LOROS badge photo - good news!

If you don’t like the photo on your LOROS ID badge then you can now get it updated!
For a small £5 donation (this covers the cost of the new card and changing the photo etc.) you can get a new photo taken by Clair in the Operations office. It still needs to be of just your head and shoulders but if you were having a bad hair day last time then problem solved!

West Side Story cast visit the Hospice

Day Therapy hosted a very intimate performance by the West Side Story cast from CURVE theatre, Leicester for patients and staff.
It was a pretty magical moment for all who were there but if you missed, don't worry. You can watch a clip on our Facebook page here.

Senior Management Committee (SMC) update

The Hospices’ senior management committee is made up of John Knight, Karen Ashcroft, Jo Kavanagh, Liz McIntyre, Caroline Baker, Wayne Matts and Dr Luke Feathers.
Every two weeks they meet to discuss current strategic and operational Hospice business and review ongoing and future projects.
Each month there will be an update on what the committee has been up to.

Belgrave Road shop closed

The LOROS shop on Belgrave Road has been closed as it is no longer profitable. The Hospice has retail committee that reviews each shop based on a set criteria and the Belgrave shop had been on the borderline for some time. The funds from the closure can now be better invested elsewhere in a better shop in the area or an alternative location. Paid staff who worked in the shop have either taken redundancy or moved to another LOROS shop.

Create 2020

The next cultural survey questionnaire will be commencing this summer. It is hoped that 100% of all staff will be surveyed, with a similar style survey being held for volunteers at the end of the year. Mandy Motley, former Director of Education, will be employed over the summer to facilitate these sessions. The most recent full Create 2020 update can be found here on the common drive: Create 2020\Newsletters.

LOROS Risk Register review

The Risk Register is a comprehensive table which identifies risk across all areas of LOROS including financial, reputational, HR, operational. It is reviewed yearly to help minimise risk and reported to board. If you fancy a look you can find it on the Common drive here: 13. Organisation Information\Policies\Section 1 - Organisation\1.14 Risk Management

Ongoing cost savings

SMC discussed the ongoing cost savings measures that all staff have been asked to consider. Any ideas for cost saving are welcome and can be passed onto John Knight or Rebecca Cort.

Free to Speak Up Guardian

Following feedback from the Create 2020 project the volunteer position of Free to Speak Up Guardian has been taken up by former trustee David Lindley.
Several Free to Speak Up Ambassadors will also be nominated from the Culture Champions to support the role. The roles are to encourage speaking up about anything that gets in the way of providing good care. When things go wrong, we need to make sure that lessons are learnt and things are improved. If we think something might go wrong, it’s important that we all feel able to speak up so that potential harm is prevented. Even when things are good, but could be even better, we should feel able to say something and should expect that our suggestion is listened to and used as an opportunity for improvement. Speaking up is about all of these things.
Further information will be provided to all staff in the future.

35th Anniversary Timeline

A timeline of LOROS’ history has been created for the wall in the outpatients waiting area to celebrate our 35th year. The artwork will be removable and produced in cost effective vinyl so can be easily updated.

Business Continuity Planning day

A business continuity or ‘disaster management’ planning day is happening 6th February involving SMC and various key teams around the Hospice.
The plans are designed to help the Hospice to continue to operate when facing realistic, unexpected challenges such as bird flu, floods, power cuts and evan bomb threats. This shouldn’t affect any staff that are not participating in the day.

Hellos and goodbyes

Hellos

We are hoping to include photos of all our new starters in the future so you can put names to faces.

Trustees

At the AGM on November 25th the following Trustees reached their maximum full nine year term and therefore resigned:

David Lindley

Priyesh Patel

Michael Pearson

Rani Mahal

At that same AGM the following people were elected to become new Trustees:

Mr Chris Murray (Business and IT interests)

Dr Nakul Patel (Clinical interests)

Retired Doctor Dick Hurwood (Clinical and CCG interest)

Andrew Measom (Business interest)

Policy and clinical updates

New and revised policies are available to view within Organisation Information on the Common (G) Drive: G:\13. Organisation Information\Policies
Paper copies of polices can also be found on the Inpatient Unit behind the Ward Clerk’s desk.

Policy Number

Title and status

1.14

Risk Management (Revised)

1.16

Safeguarding Adults (Revised)

2.29

Supporting Patients to Prepare or Amend a Will (Revised)

6.8

Information Sharing (Revised)

1.25

Pets at Work (New)

4.9

Smoking and the use of Electronic Cigarettes/Vaping at work (Revised)

6.0

Information Security (Revised)

8.18

Cash Handling (New)

Important Information about the Integrated Community Palliative Care Service

The 0300 555 5255 phone number for Integrated Community Palliative Care Service Coordination Centre at New Parks is for the sole use of health care professionals.
The centre has had quite a few patients call directly to them and when asked where they got the number from they have said LOROS. Patients need to call the main SPA number which is 0300 300 7777.

For you - Wellbeing, HR and personal development

Wellbeing activities for staff

As part of the LOROS staff wellbeing programme you can access a range of activities within the Hospice.

Podiatry - usually the third Friday of the monthYoga - once a week on a Tuesday lunch timeChoir - once a week on a Wednesday lunch timeSoul Space - Tuesday or Thursday every week

There are also some one-off wellbeing event coming up which the HR team will give more information about closer to the time:
Friday 7th February – Leicester College World of Work Day - Beauty students providing mini treatments to staff
Thursday 26th March – VISTA Eye Screening (a second date is also being planned, date to be confirmed)

Complementary therapy for staff

All LOROS staff are entitled to four appointments in a 12 month period which is a brilliant benefit to have and use. You just need to book into your preferred slot with the HR Department; January’s date are listed below.

Aromatherapy Massage, Indian Head Massage & Reflexology

Friday 7 February 1.30pm to 4.30pm

Friday 14 February 1.30pm to 4.30pm

Friday 21 February 1.30pm to 4.30pm

Friday 28 February 1.30pm to 4.30pm

The Enablement Gym

Our Enablement suite has a wonderful gym that all LOROS staff and volunteers are welcome to use during the below hours:

Monday-Friday 5pm-8am

Saturday-Sunday 8am-8pm

All employees must have a familiarisation session before using the gym. This should
be booked in with a member of the Enablement team. These sessions will be held Tuesdays 12-12.30 and should last no longer than 10 minutes. You can find more information in the Enablement Gym folder on the common drive.

Coaching at LOROS

LOROS now has 12 fully-trained coaches employed in departments throughout the organisation. They are a resource for you to call upon and an opportunity for you to have ‘coaching’ conversations that help and support you in your work.
Coaching is a very powerful process and is being increasingly used in all professions. Our hope within LOROS is that it can help to tackle matters early on long before they become bigger issues, that it gives you an outlet to talk and investigate your options. The new resource is for professional work related coaching matters – it is not ‘life’ coaching.
The trained coaches are as follows:

Andrew Ward

Hannah Bold

Rebecca Cort

Rebecca Valentine-Wilkinson

Liz Kemp

Rachel Lattimore

Laura Fitzsawyer

Angela Baxter

Jo Potts

Bethany Tomlinson

Angela Salt

Louise Hemmings

You are free to approach any of these people and ask for a coaching session. Each of them has an allocation of 1.5 hours per week or six hours per month to deliver coaching within their job role. Your session with them is confidential assuming it is not a matter of critical health and safety or safeguarding. They will not report to anyone about your coaching session - it is in total confidence.
Should you have any questions or concerns about this new and very exciting development then do please feel free to contact John Knight or indeed any of the coaches.

The LOROS Singers

The LOROS singers are a small, friendly ladies’ choir made up of LOROS staff, volunteers and friends, all with a common desire to raise money for the hospice.Founded in 2005, the choir sings a wide variety of songs, from shows and films, pop and folk, to classical and religious and has raised many thousands of pounds for LOROS and other charities. The choir meets on Wednesday evenings at 5.15pm in the LOROS Chapel and available to book for events. If you would like to join or book the choir please contact our musical director Judy Dodd on (0116) 285 6217.

Business development and money matters

The purpose of our business development work is to explore new income sources for LOROS which will go directly to support our patients and their families.
If you have any ideas and thoughts please do contact Caroline Baker, Director of Income Generation and Business Development, who will be delighted to hear from you.

LOROS Café at Leicester Crown Court

On 6th January trading began at the LOROS Café based in Leicester Crown Court, the purpose of this new venture is to generate a regular income stream alongside raising awareness of our work at LOROS. If trading continues at the current rate, around £20,000 profit could be realised per annum.
Bright new LOROS signage and messaging is in place as well as a fresh new menu, we are absolutely delighted with how well the first few weeks of trading have gone and how well the existing café staff have embraced joining LOROS.

Care for a Drink

January saw the official launch of our Care for a Drink mobile bar and coffee shop. We provide teas and coffees and a selection of cold drinks, or a licensed alcohol range. Our unique offering means we can provide a tailored offering to suit any event.

We are actively taking bookings and securing events, in amongst our current bookings is a wedding and a local dog show. Please do get in touch if you would like to hire us or if there is a local group or event you think we should approach.

LOROS needs you

Dementia Friends

Cathy Knight, our Admiral nurse, and Jo Elliott will be offering ‘Dementia Friends’ sessions once a month in order to raise awareness about dementia and recruit as many dementia friends as we can across the Hospice.Are you a Dementia Friend already? If yes, please let Cathy know via email as they would like to get an idea of how many LOROS already has.
Dementia Friends is an initiative coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Society to encourage others to learn a little bit about dementia. A Dementia Friend is somebody that learns about dementia so they can help their community. Too many people affected by dementia feel that society fails to understand the condition they live with. Dementia Friends help by raising awareness and understanding, so that people living with dementia can continue to live in the way they want.
The planned sessions are available to book via our website here.

Wild in Art - Rocket Round Leicester

LOROS is working with Wild in Art to create the largest public art event Leicester has ever seen!
Coming in summer 2021, Rocket Round Leicester will showcase a minimum of 35 large sculptures featuring individually designed artworks based on a bespoke rocket sculpture especially commissioned for us!
This is an incredible opportunity for LOROS and has the potential to generate hundreds of thousands of pounds whilst raising the profile of our wonderful organisation throughout LLR, regionally and even nationally! Having spoken with other Hospices who have undertaken their own Wild in Art Trails, the key piece of advice we have been given is that the most successful trails are those that have had the support of the entire organisation – this is where you come in!Rocket Round Leicester needs you! We’re looking for people who can support the project team using an existing skill, interest or connection. Areas needing support include:

Photography

Social media/blogging

Links into businesses, clubs, committees, places of worship

Links with media/printers

Trail volunteers throughout summer 2021

Contacts with storage facilities

Events

Merchandise

Courier/haulage/general logistics

Help us to fundraise and/or market and promote the trail through your networks.

Would your group/committee like to fundraise to decorate a smaller rocket sculpture of your own?

Team spotlight

Our team spotlight section is here for you to showcase you and your team.
Have you just started a new and exciting project, taken on a colleague in a new role or just think you need to raise your profile around the Hospice? This is where you can do it!
All you need to do is write 250-300 words and submit a few good photos (we can help with that if you need us) and you can let everyone know what is going on your area.
Our March issue is going to feature a back to basics feature on the Enablement team and what they do by the lovely Hannah Bold, Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist. Here she is if you weren’t sure who she is!

If you would like your team or project to feature in a future issue of the Hospice Pin Board then either email us, call (ext. 8472) or come and see me in the Marketing office.

Head of Departments meeting - In brief

Car parking

Please use the blocking in bays if you finish at 4.30pm or 5pm. There are now signs in place for dedicated visitor spaces, please avoid parking in these. A review is taking place for parking of the mini bus and volunteer parking and additional directional signage will be installed this year.

Patient and Carer Participation Group (PCPG)

New members are sought to join the Patient and Carer Participation Group. This meeting takes place every three months for two hours from 5-7pm. If you know of any patients, carers or former carers who would be interested please speak to Veronica Mickleburgh in the first instance.

Volunteer admin support

If you or your team require admin support (non-clinical areas only) please let Minaxi Patel know as she has several volunteers who are looking to help.

Mandatory training statistics

Thank you to everyone who has helped us reach 93% compliance for both clinical and non-clinical areas. Particular congratulations go to Enterprises who are at 99% so well done to them. Thanks also for everyone for getting their children and young person’s safeguarding training L1 done.

Smoking Policy

This policy has been revised and in the final stages of being updated. Staff are asked to smoke only in the designated smoking area at the rear of the Hospice car park during their meal breaks and may take no more than two additional breaks during a full working day. There are two areas in the shelter for smoking and vaping – please use the correct area. The full policy can be found on the common drive: G:\13. Organisation Information\Policies\Section 4.

John Knight is now a Hospice UK Trustee

John has been successfully appointed as a Hospice UK trustee; this will give LOROS a voice around the national table. Please speak to John if you have any questions about his new role.
The full Heads of Department meeting minutes can be found on the common drive here: HoDs\Minutes

The Hospice Pin Board deadlines

The newsletter will be released monthly as per the dates below. To make it as informative and useful as possible we need your stories, content and information share.Please email anything you would like to go into the newsletter or come and speak to Sophie in the Marketing office (ext. 8472).